LCD TV panel shipments set to increase

By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Wed, Mar 20, 2013 - Page 14

Global shipments of ultra-high-definition LCD TV panels this year are expected to be 40 times higher than last year due to strong demand primarily from China, providing a boon to Taiwanese panel makers such as Innolux Corp (群創光電), market researcher NPD DisplaySearch said yesterday.

Shipments of 4K2K TV displays are expected to increase to 2.6 million units this year, compared with 63,000 units last year, as panel makers seek to provide cost-efficient ultra-high-definition panels to boost demand, the researcher forecast.

The 4K2K TV displays deliver resolution four times greater than full HD displays.

“The 4K2K TV panels are the latest technology available at the moment,” David Hsieh (謝勤益), a vice president of NPD DisplaySearch, said in a report. “Even though there is a lack of new content in the TVs, companies in the supply chain are to speed up their efforts to boost sales of the ultra-high-definition TV sets.”

Hsieh said several panel makers were working with chip designers to develop new chips for the panels to enable upscaling from high-definition to 4K2K content, which would help drive the 4K2K LCD TV market.

Panel makers collaborating with TV makers to promote such ultra-high-definition sets would benefit from this trend, he said.

In particular, Taiwanese flat- panel maker Innolux has pushed ahead of its South Korean rivals in developing 4K2K TV displays in an attempt to seize new business opportunities, as next-generation OLED TV panels are still beyond the budgetary reach of the majority of consumers.

Innolux’s 4K2K displays range from 39-inch screens to 85-inch screens, with customers including China’s TCL, Skyworth (創惟) and Hisense Group (海信), as well as Japan’s Toshiba, Panasonic and Sharp. AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), which has focused on 55-inch and 65-inch displays, counts Sony, Toshiba, Skyworth and Vizio among its customers, according to DisplaySearch.

Hsieh expected 50-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch 4K2K TVs to account for the biggest portion of this year’s shipments because of strong demand from China.